Rouhani first deputy: US cannot stop export of Iranian oil

Iran’s First Vice President, Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi, said Sunday that the United States will not be able to stop the export of Iranian oil because of plans and mechanisms prepared by the Iranian government.

Iranian IRNA news agency quoted Jahangiri as saying that “Iran has been exporting 2.5 million barrels of oil per day over the last few months and its export level has now declined by less than thousands of barrels”. The senior official pointed out that Iran can meet its revenue needs by exporting only one million barrels per day, adding that the country’s exports will not fall below this rate.

“The price of a barrel of oil used to be $30 and now it reached $80 […] Assuming that Washington will succeed in stopping the Iranian oil, the barrel price will hit $100,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Saudi Energy Minister Khaled Al-Faleh has recently said that the Kingdom will not be able to make up for all Iranian oil export caused by U.S. sanctions. “Saudi Arabia’s production has reached 10.7 million barrels per day this month and we could increase production to 12 million barrels per day. But if three million barrels per day which are Iran’s exports have disappeared from the market, we cannot cover that amount,” he said.

The United States is preparing to re-impose a new set of sanctions on Tehran’s oil and banking sector on 4 November.

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